Via Billy
VERBATIM
Mr. Lindsey Ray's letter "The South will not rise again"
(Birmingham News June, 29 2013) believes
federal control of voting must continue in his "Confederate states," a black vs. white question.
The U.S. Census
Bureau in its "Table 4b. Reported Voting and Registration, by Sex, Race and
Hispanic Origin, for States: November 2012" gives the voting percent for "black
alone or in combination" citizens and "White non-Hispanic alone" citizens.
Those numbers for
each state yield a ratio of black to white voting where parity is achieved at a
ratio of 1.0. Black voting rates exceed white voting rates at ratios above 1.0 and white voting rates exceed Black
voting rates at ratios below 1.0.
States
where Black voting rates exceed white rates are: NORTH CAROLINA (1.21), New
York (1.16), Ohio (1.16), MISSISSIPPI (1.15), Illinois (1.14), TENNESSEE
(1.12), Indiana (1.11), SOUTH CAROLINA (1.09), New Jersey (1.08), Wisconsin
(1.06), LOUISIANA (1.06), GEORGIA (1.05), Maryland (1.04), Pennsylvania (1.03),
United States (1.03), Missouri (1.03), TEXAS (1.03), ALABAMA (1.02), and
District of Columbia (1.00). Ray's
"confederate states" capitalized.
States where white voting rates
exceed black are: VIRGINIA (0.99), Oklahoma (0.98), Nevada (0.98), Kentucky
(0.96), Connecticut (0.96), California (0.95), FLORIDA (0.94), Michigan (0.94),
Delaware (0.91), Massachusetts (0.88), ARKANSAS (0.87), Washington (0.84),
Colorado (0.78), Kansas (0.76), Minnesota (0.76), and Arizona (0.72).
Mr. Ray must now show that voting in "Confederate states"
where black rates exceed White rates is more-fair than voting in "non
Confederate states" where white rates exceed Black.
Joe Boyett
Montgomery